To Race A Flame
by Flame1
Summary: A young unicorn from the forest befriends a village girl. what danger lies ahead no one predicted...


**To Race A Flame**

I was annoyed. Once again, my mother was being unreasonable and we were having a 'discussion'. 

"You cannot go running out into the open like that! The fields are way too dangerous especially for you. You aren't even white yet! You're still gold!" Said my mother for the millionth time. She always said the same things about hunters and new settlements being made on our little forest's edge. 

" I don't care," I said " I know that even if those slow idiots see a 'unicorn', (very stupid name these humans have for us) no one is gonna believe them! Honestly! For all they know we're extinct!" (Which wasn't true since I was friends with one of the females in the settlement)

I stormed away snorting angrily and pounding rather harder than usual in my rage. ' Honestly she thinks she knows everything, I thought as I ran through the beech woods to what everyone else basically thought of as the end of the world, The edge of the forest that was the last settlement of unicorns. I was still young and had not yet lost my golden color completely, which was one reason my mom was so worried. Then again all elder unicorns who are part of the circle of the 'wise' are worrywarts, I said to myself. 

All of the sudden I looked up and saw that I had unwittingly run all the way to the hunting settlement walls. I did feel slightly guilty, especially thinking of the young female I had befriended in the settlement. Despite what I said about humans to my mother, I found them daring and interesting. I had actually met the girl Darina in the glade. She was one of the few who thought that the stories of haunts in the woods were to be ridiculed. Much like me she was on the edge of her clan, thought too young and naive to have worthwhile council. Maybe that's why I let her see me. That day…

I jerked out of my reverie. There was Darina wearing her usual deerskin clothes and moccasins. Her hair shone wild and bronzy in the sunlight of late afternoon and her eyes glowed jewel-bright like emeralds. She smiled and ran to me, burying her face deep into my mane. Usually these would be times of comfort and rest; why did I feel nervous still? She was right here. A man stepped out of the shadows at the edge of the compound drawing out a bow and arrow."Heh heh heh," he smirked to himself.

Darina raced to mount me and together we flew toward the safety of the trees, me whinnying in fright and anger. But I knew it was folly. The last thing I remembered for a long time was a searing pain in my left flank.

When I awoke it was dark. A few feet away a candle flared. The flames made me think of the burning sensation in my flank. On a mat of fur Darina was tied hand and foot. Bound and gagged, she had a tear-streaked look. In came the stranger and ripped the gag from Darina's mouth so roughly that she cried out in pain. 

" Don't hurt her! She's my friend!" gasped Darina as soon as the gag fell to the floor. 

" That word means nothing," he spat.

I was so afraid I didn't even attempt to move. I was sure he had shot me earlier with a fire arrow. 

He was obviously rough, cruel, and didn't care about how we were treated at all. I was sure he wanted to hurt either me or Darina, but I vowed to save her or die trying. It was all my fault. Once again my mother was right. I hated how that always seemed to happen. I could almost see gold coins shining in his eyes as he stared at me with intense longing.

He bent down close to me to examine my hooves, horn, and coat more closely. Of course my pelt was spoiled beyond repair from the burns he inflicted with his flame, but even I knew the power he would have with just my horn. While he was bent staring at me, Darina seized her chance. Lunging for the candle, she set his clothes on fire. With a yell of pain he jumped back.

" Hurry Jupiter (which was her pet name for me)!"She yelled.

I nipped away the bonds trapping her and found that I could carry her and run relatively easily. We had been hidden in an abandoned house at the edge of the beech groves. After I battered the door down we found the way to the council tree quickly. There the whole story spilled out like blood from a wound. 

"My baby! Are you alright?" you guessed it. My mother showed up about two seconds after I did. I was so ashamed I couldn't lift my face. Yet she didn't reprove me. It was never discussed. I told her she had been right but all she said was hush and would hear nothing else of it. 

After I had been treated for my burns and other wounds, there was a beautiful ceremony for Darina who was recognized as a hero even among our people, who despised almost all humans. Glade flowers, meadow flowers, and sweet-smelling cedar shavings (stolen from the edge of another village) were draped on and around the council tree. The festival lasted five days. Darina never went back to her village. After that our kind, though not entirely sure of humans, were not nearly as judgmental and critical of them as they had been before.

****

By Flame


End file.
